Inspired Dave

If I was still at Tarty Bikes I'd write another blog thanking everyone for all their support and kind words. But then I guess if I was still there I wouldn't have had the kind words etc, vicious circle! haha Needless to say, it feels bloody wierd not being 'Tarty Dave' anymore. Every time I say that to someone it makes my heart sink a little, and question whether I have done the right thing. But sometimes things come along that just cannot be turned down, even if they are a bit risky! hehe Thanks again everyone, it's been a privilege to meet so many great people just because we happened to start selling trials parts to fellow riders . I think the blog says it all really, didn't have to edit it or think about it, wrote what I felt at the time and it sums things up perfectly. (One last time.... (with a tear in my eye and lump in my throat)) Tarty Dave .

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the sidehopping! I used to work at Halfords, and for the record, I couldn't sidehop for the first 4-5 years I rode trials! lol Keep practicing Dave

With rotors they really really need to be heat treated and quenched to improve their mechanical properties. I saw a pre-heat-treated rotor the other day, could be bent by hand easily, and it wouldn't spring back like a 'normal' rotor, it just stayed exactly where you bent it. Get some proper research on the go to find out what mechanical properties the rotors will need, maybe some force analysis to check the ultimate strength of the material with your design will be strong enough. Design does look sweet though! I'd run one if it the weight was ok

I want to try that chain ride!! But not within any close proximity to other tasks that require physical capabilities of any sort, because it would end in tears, bruises and grazes many times before it was pulled! haha Can't wait to see how far he got along it!

There'll be a custom modified pimp spec'd Czar 20" for sale soon at this rate! lol Some wicked photos, Preston Docks never looked so arty! haha Cool ride, nice change to ride some streety stuff in a streety way!

YES ROWAN!!! That vid was a bloody whopper! So nice to see full lines in trials vids rather than single move stuff. Single move stuff's cool, but there needs to be a good balance of people doing single move stuff and linking moves in to 'sections.' I'm so jealous at your manuals in to stuff, I need to practise those for definite, look awesome! But I bet linking the manual to/from the big move is far far far harder than just being able to do the manual OR the big move separately . Editing was ace, music was a good choice, riding was AMAZING. Loved it. Most enjoyable video I've seen in ages, maybe ever! It was worth the wait

Well done to all the Brits who made the effort to travel over to the land of sausages and slow-beer (ask Waddy and Stan ). Especially well done to Ali C, managed to finish top 8 in qualification meaning he went through to the final in only his third UCI International event!!! Not a bad effort for someone who had probably the most pikey bike there! hehe. We love you really Ali . I spoke to Thomas Oehler this morning, nothing is broken and he doesn't appear to have any ligament damage, so all being well he'll be riding again (all be it gingerly (no, not in a Porter/Staples way )) by the end of the week!

Right, that was a major rant! haha. Bullet point review of above for people that don't want to lose the will to live!.... - the number of stand at the show was majorly down on previous shows - major manufacturers weren't in attendance so it lost some of the 'spectacle' we're used to - the dirt show facilities were pretty good, though bike shows of old were possibly a bit better - the bsx/4x was a bit of a joke - trials show was seriously limited by budget and vested interests of the overall show organisers - the time slots given to the trials were pretty poor, not helping crowd levels - the riders invited put every effort in to make the most of what they had - the trials organisers worked immensely hard to make the shows enjoyable for the crowds - big name stars would have helped appeal to impress and please true fanatics, but the 'general' audience would just be happying seeing a good show by any capable riders - the big names would have boosted crowd by maybe only a 100 or so due to the limited fanatical fan base willing to travel and make the effort to attend - the general low volume of people attending the show meant it would be near impossible to get large crowds even with all of the top comp and street riders on the best course in history! Whoppers, I'm off for a Mars Bar .

First things first, the Bike Show for us was mega hard work for us so I hope we didn't seem too spaced out when people came and chatted! That said, it was wicked to see and speak to so many new trials riding faces! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to purchase things or even just for a random chat . As for the 'other' aspects of the Bike Show, being our first show as an exhibitor we have a slightly different view of it to shows we have previously visited. But I'll try and get my thoughts down as rationally as I can . The overall volume of stands and attractions at the show wasn't up to what I had expected in all honesty. The stands were definitely pretty well spread out with a fair bit of free space in a lot of areas, possibly a sign that some of the larger companies Chris mentioned not being present as they see their budget better spent on the London Cycle show. I'd hazard a guess that a factor in this would be that the London Show, being promotion based as opposed to a mixture of promotion and retail as at the National Bike Show (NBS), offers a more productive use of time, cash and efforts in their yearly promotional plans due to them not being interested in retail directly of any kind (Hope is a great example of a company like this) other than through shops. As for the attractions, I felt the dirt jumps were just about ok for the show, but obviously bigger is always better from a spectator point of view! haha. The 4x/BSX sprint competition, if I'm going to be blunt, was a serious joke and insult to both bsx as a sport, the riders invited and also the people who really matter at a show like this - the public. The trials course from what I have been informed was originally penciled in to be quite a large affair, much more like the trials arenas of old. Unfortunately when plans and materials requests were presented to the organizers things had changed from their point of view. The organizers of the trials arena were now give a fairly un-accommodating proposal of ‘here’s your new budget and the list of equipment you will get.’ Not quite what was expected. In all fairness, the riders that attended were of a sufficient level overall to perform and entertain a very sizeable crowd. Admittedly there may not have been some of the more fashionable names, which is a shame. However, I do feel that even had there been a significant number of extremely high profile and well decorated competition riders in attendance, the number of truly committed trials riders/fans that would have been willing to pay to enter and been actually able to get to the show would not have swelled the crowds by much more than 100 individuals. Ok some these people may have brought a family member or couple of parents along with them, but I don’t feel it would have seen an increase in crowd numbers to rival those of previous shows. Had the show been publicized well enough I feel the general demographic of people who attended the show wouldn’t have been affected much by the ‘qualifications’ and titles the trials riders on show had. As Rob mentioned, the general spectators at a trials show like the NBS would either be new riders to the sport or general ‘cyclists’ who wanted to see some entertaining shows. The average knowledge of a large trials show audience wouldn’t stretch to the sort of depth that would effect their enjoyment of a show significantly when a rider has ‘x’ number of titles. I do admit, however, that having ‘x’ number of titles adds a certain element of ‘occasion’ to the shows, and makes audiences feel they can justify their entry price a little more. The addition of extremely high profile international riders would have definitely left true trials fanatics feeling a little happier, however, I feel the proportion of fanatical riders/fans watching a bike show trials demo is seriously outweighed by the volume of general cyclists who just want to be entertained. I would have loved to have seen a few household names from the UK trials scene, unfortunately due to one thing and another (details of which I wouldn't be particularly qualified to speak about) such names weren't able to attend, possibly losing some of the feel that the bike shows of old were renowned for. Had there been some seriously high level riders there and even household names, I don’t feel they would have been able to do riding that was any more impressive than that of the riders this weekend given the equipment and budget supplied in this case. All the riders put in a massive effort to try and please the crowds, despite the poor attendance for certain shows. Of all the shows I managed to catch a glimpse of, the trials seemed the best organized with the most effort being out in to thought of an actual ‘show’, and the commentators really tried to get the limited crowds motivated by what they were seeing. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, there simply weren’t enough people at the show to give any of the attractions a seriously packed house. The riders and trials show organizers put in huge efforts to try and redeem a situation that had, unfortunately, been taken out of their hands in terms of budget and materials supplied and especially time slots for the shows. Fingers crossed this water tester by the organizers means they are willing to commit more promotional efforts and budget to the next show for both stands in general and also attractions.

His Mono Trial is much better I think the thing with discs is that they have to be set up well and left alone, a BB7 should be stick-through-the-spokes-like compared to most other brakes. The main downside is the weight.

Agreed! You can get Ti bolts in certain colours though - blue and gold are ones I've seen, but I'm sure there are more.

I suppose you could say that - however ours was built completely from scratch using notepad using the best bits of the best sites we could find (given cost/time restraints!). Site looks good Phil.

So if/when you get a new frame you wont need a new BB as well

Correct.... you don't need a special tool to remove the circlip though, it'll just come off with a small flat bladed screwdriver.

Probably a confidence thing. Now I've moved over to dual disc I'm really confident that my brake will hold if I do 'x' move, but the nice loud screech of a rim brake adds a further element of confidence every time you slow your wheel. Personally I love the extra confidence in the sound of a rim brake, but the added benefits of a rear disk brake sure make for tough choices!

I think I'd class myself as a 'long'/170mm crank running type person on 20". I find the extra leverage makes the gear feel just right for me, where as Adam's Monty with the same ratio but 160 cranks feels much stiffer geared. The ground clearance is compromised slightly with 170mm cranks, though the GU you are considering does have a higher bb than most other frames, so that makes up for the difference in crank length nicely. If you're pretty powerful, leg wise, then going for shorter cranks could definitely benefit you due to extra clearance, especially if you ride a lot of rocks and want to ride 'UCI.'

The amount of tension you can get from these things is pretty serious, making it all the harder to move the chain side to side at all. You'd have to be doing something rather impressive to get the chain to come off the runner without actually hitting it off somehow.

Matt at Middleburn had the news from his suppliers that Ti prices for his raw material increased almost 400% (similar story from the Hope boys, hence no more Ti QR's from Hope). As the steel doesn't machine as quickly or easily as the Ti did, Matt reckons the difference in raw material costs between old Ti prices and current stainless prices is made negligible by the extra machine time needed to make parts from the stainless. I'm not sure about 3 years old for the pedals, but they have been around a while yeh, we'd have been selling them earlier just didn't realise Revell had them. Awesome pedals for the cash! Like my old Atom Lab Aircorps, but wider. Only difference in lever blades as people have said is that they have different aesthetics, all pivot position and finger contact points are the same. Czar blade is just lever blade and washers only, sorry for any confusion. Yep, should be getting back to you re. the boots Monday . Exactly what you said . The tensioner would fit mod, but due to weeny sprocket use it'd be a logistically piece of magic to get everything in to such a small gap (between top and bottom chains) and running smooth with no tensioner modifications.

Rides awesome. First time I got on it I decided to start small and try 5 blue pallets to backwheel with a pedal-up. It went well, missed the edge and landed about 8-10 inches in to the pallet. Proper poo'd myself cos I landed super vertical as well. Bunnyhops to 2 wheels nice, and sidehops nice. With the slightly lower bb I'm finding I gap to two or to a skim of the front wheel more than I did on the A3, so it feels a bit more compy than streety in that way. Lower bb also means I can get a bit more power in to gaps (need every bit of help I can get with gaps at mo! haha).

New bike time again :$ Decided it was time to try dual disc for a bit. Adam's brake has been working awesome lately, so I thought I'd have a try at sacrificing some bite for a bit of smooth silent (almost) action. Ciguena 20", front and rear Mono Trial 160s, Echo cranks, Monty rear disc hub. Had to change to Echo cranks, as much as I loved the Profiles, they won't run with this frame as it has no bashplate. Gonna keep the Profiles for a rainy day though, no doubt I'll change my frame again sometime this year! I'm actually genuinely surprised and impressed at how well the Ciguena rides. I wasn't sure about the looks as a bare frame, but built up I'm loving it. With a tiny bit lower bb than the Adamant I notice a few changes in how it rides, but everything has it's positives, so as long as I ride to the positives I'll be a happy chappy . Rear disc is so surreal. Almost like someones removed your ability to hear, but the brake still works. Great when you want to be smooth though, such a novelty for me. Big thanks to Ciguena for the quick delivery of the frame, Hope for the awesome brakes and Profile for the ridiculously stiff/pimp but temporarily neglected cranks! Hopefully be getting some riding clips soon, as soon as my knee isn't purple and lump that is.

I bought about 12 plum malt loaves last night (they were on offer so I couldn't resist). Congratulations on the house! Never had you down for such a mature person! hehe. Not that I'm saying you're immature . I hope it was a mortgage job not a 'here have a suitcase of cash' job, if it was cash then I'm gonna start doing the job you're doing for next year! lol House breaking (sorry, warming) party this weekend then? :D

Best to phone us or msn me . Generally complete bikes get free build and discount on total sum of the parts though, if you want a rough guide.

Oooh, switch foot gaps AND sidehops to both sides, good lad . Liked the vid, some very nice stuff, especially like the frontwheel stuff . Good song choice too, suited vid well. Looks like some pretty good street to ride! Is it all close together or like driving distance between them?

Great new vid Nige! Definitely improving at a beast rate. Really glad to see you doing all sorts of moves too, not just sidehops or just bunnywops! Top stuff . Editing was well suited, song was a good choice, riding was ace. Loved it Catch you later sexy

Yeh course no probs. Can either quote you for your desired spec or can build a sec to fit your budget . If in doubt, give us a bell!